5 Yoga Exercises for a Healthy Low Back

The principles shared in this video will support your freedom from any strain or pain in the lower back. The simple practices shared are geared to teach you to be aware of how you rotate your thigh bones at their insertion points, the hip sockets. They will also help you begin to notice how you distribute weight on your feet. These two points are often overlooked in relation to the health of our lower back. Yet in my years of teaching, I've seen this awareness help more people with lower back issues than anything else.

The results of these exercises are immediate and sustainable if practiced daily as you go about your regular activities. The exercises I've given can be done in as little as five minutes, but to get the most out of it, allow 10-20 minutes whenever possible. The final pose, legs up the wall (a.k.a. viparita karani or reverse action pose) can be sustained for up to 15 minutes.

Here are a few points to remember:

Your feet tell you what your thighs are doing. If the toes are turning out so are the thighbones. This compresses the lower back.

Look to see that the outer edges of your feet are parallel.

Make sure your weight is even on both the inner and outer edges of your feet. In other words you're not leaning more to one side or the other.

Practice these actions throughout the day whenever you think of it and they will become the new habit.